How Can Market-Based Action Tackle Childhood Obesity?
You won’t be surprised to learn that there’s a relationship between deprivation and childhood obesity, but you may feel challenged as to what we can do about a problem that is continually growing. 40 years ago just 1% of children were classed as obese, this has now risen to 8% in boys, 5% in girls. With government-backed health programmes failing to make an impact through behavioural change, a report published by Guys and St Thomas’ Charity states that we instead, need market-based action to improve unhealthy food environments.
What We Know
Childhood obesity is on average twice as high in areas of highest deprivation compared to wealthier areas. Over one third of children are now leaving primary school obese or overweight, leading to well documented social, health and economic consequences. Research emphasises that this can be largely attributed to the increased price of healthier products, making them less accessible to lower-income families.
London especially has a higher number of overweight and obese children than any other major global city. The health gap between the more and less deprived families can be seen in the boroughs of Labeth and Southwark, where the the charity focus their work. In these boroughs, 25% of 4–5 year olds are overweight or obese. This rises to 40% between the ages of 5–10 years old.
Now let’s compare directly between higher and lower-income families. Of children from Dulwich Village, an area of low deprivation, only 10% are overweight or obese. Of children from Camberwell Green, an area of higher deprivation, 33% are overweight or obese.
What Can We Do?
To tackle this issue, experts say we need to improve unhealthy food environments with market-based action. This has a number of benefits in both tackling obesity and from a business perspective. Market-based action aims to be financially sustainable and profitable, does not victim blame or stigmatise families for their diet choices, attracts more commercial funding in order to reach the scale needed to tackle the obesity crisis, and fills an unmet gap in the market.
The charity’s research suggests that low-income families (household income <£20,000 per annum) spent an estimated £6.5bil on food in 2017, 13% of this which was categorised as snacks. Their research has identified that snacks and pre-prepared meals are the biggest opportunity spaces, and the charity is funding work in both sectors. Snacks are the second largest category purchase for out-of-home consumption, representing 20–25% of weekly food spends. Households earning over £20,000 per annum spend the lowest proportion of their income on snacks whilst households earning between £10,000–20,000 spend the most.
The Entrepreneurial Mission
Creating a social or environmental impact is a main motivation for entrepreneurs that target this gap in the market, but start-ups face many barriers to entry and growth. This includes issues with cash-flow, the regulatory environment, lack of specific food-industry knowledge, and cost of goods. Competition is also getting tougher as existing brands have been reformulating to become less unhealthy. Funders can help overcome these barriers to scale, with 3 areas of consideration; Healthy food investment, food specific expertise, and place-based infrastructure.
It Can Be Done
Despite the obstacles that brands face, one of our challenger brands, JimJams is disrupting the spreads market with its range of hazelnut chocolate spreads that have 83% less sugar than the market leader, whilst matching their price point (I’m sure you can shout your guesses at who they might be). These leading brands can contain the equivalent of 56 cubes of sugar per jar!
As parents themselves JimJams’ founders were on a mission to create an alternative product that they’d be happy for their own children to enjoy, and in doing so have won Great Taste awards as well as nationwide distribution in supermarkets, hotels and leisure destinations.
Enter Mission Ventures
We have teamed up with Big Society Capital and Guy’s and St Thomas’ Charity to run an Accelerator programme to support healthier challenger brands, with access to funding by the Good Food Fund (GFF).
The GFF is a new £1.8m Venture Fund, managed by Ascension Ventures, which will back ambitious food and drink challenger brands ready to help tackle childhood obesity. The aim is to deliver market-led solutions to one of the biggest challenges facing the nation’s health.
Are you a UK SME or start-up food brand?
Is your company looking for accelerator and/or funding opportunities?
Does your product challenge the existing market with a healthier alternative for children?
Find Out More & Apply To The Good Food Fund
To read more about this important matter, click here to download the Healthy Returns Report, by Guys and St Thomas’ Charity.
- Alice Hannah, Operations Executive at Mission Ventures.
Visit the Mission Ventures website.
